Communication system facilitating a contextual environment for a user filling various role agents

ABSTRACT

A system is provided for implementing, managing or running a communication or workflow management system having multiple role agents representing roles, person agents representing users and device agents representing devices. The system combines a plurality of the role agents and their associated person agents and device agents into at least one mission, links the role agents to the person agents with a policy chain, and links the person agents to the device agents with a policy chain within a mission. Selected communications may be linked to at least one of the missions with a policy chain, such as a policy chain that links selected communications to at least one of the role agents in a mission.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.61/545,610, filed Oct. 11, 2011, 61/546,593, filed Oct. 13, 2011 and61/558,225, filed Nov. 10, 2011, all of which are hereby incorporated byreference herein in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to the field of voice and datacommunications, and in particular to a system for managingcommunications and other forms of data for a user able to fill variousroles, for managing communications and other forms of data for a missionmade up of people using devices and filling roles within a group.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In today's world, where we can communicate using many different means,keeping track of all of communications, and having them all available atthe same time is cumbersome. Add to that the fact that there arecommunication applications that apply to various different roles at bothwork and at home, and we use many different devices to communicate with,the problem becomes even more complex. Examples of communicationsapplications are:

-   -   Facebook    -   Twitter    -   LinkedIn    -   Various forms of Email    -   YouTube    -   MSN Messenger    -   Yammer    -   Skype    -   Google Talk    -   SMS

Devices used to communicate can include for example:

-   -   Smart phones    -   Tablets    -   PC's    -   SIP phones    -   Proprietary digital phones    -   Cell phones    -   Collaboration tools    -   Web pages

Communications can include for example:

-   -   Email    -   Voice call    -   Chat    -   SMS    -   Tweet    -   Document    -   Work Item    -   Video call    -   Fax    -   Voice or Text Page/Broadcast    -   Contact closure    -   Contacts    -   RSS feeds    -   Blogs    -   Alarm

New applications at work based on “Enterprise Social Networking” arebecoming prevalent (e.g. Yammer, Salesforce Chatter, Socialtext,Microsoft SharePoint). Twitter-style updates and Facebook-like profilepages are at the core of nearly all these products.

We assume many roles within personal and business life. We subscribe tomany applications using many different device types. We have to remembermany different passwords to log in to some of these applications. Newapplications are being produced every day for a user's various differentroles. In both business and personal life, there are recurring tasksthat are done by one or more people that creates a repeatable mission. Amission encompasses roles, policies, people and devices. This embodimentdescribes a communication or workflow management system to implement,manage and run these missions that encompass roles, people and devicesand the policies that join roles together and a user interface for auser to manage these various roles within the context of business andpersonal life.

SUMMARY

In accordance with one embodiment, a system is provided forimplementing, managing or running a communication or workflow managementsystem having multiple role agents representing roles, person agentsrepresenting users and device agents representing devices. The systemcombines a plurality of the role agents and their associated personagents and device agents into at least one mission, links the roleagents to the person agents with a policy chain, and links the personagents to the device agents with a policy chain within a mission.Selected communications may be linked to at least one of the missionswith a policy chain, such as a policy chain that links selectedcommunications to at least one of the role agents in a mission.

In one implementation, the missions include work items which are treatedas communications. The missions preferably include pre-defined roleagents, person agents, device agents, policies, policy chains, and workitems, instantiated with appropriate connections and filled in withdata, and are adapted to receive incoming communications. The systemcreates a termination event that is either a user invoked terminationevent or stored termination criteria for a selected mission, andterminates the selected mission in response to the occurrence of thetermination event. The mission may be for at least one social orbusiness event selected from the group consisting of a party, a wedding,a meeting, and a conference. For example, the mission may implement,manage or run a game. A work item sent to a user through a device maycontain a downloadable application that lets the user interface with thesystem through the application once downloaded. The applicationpreferably gathers data and sends it to the system to be stored as datain at least one entity selected from the group consisting of policies,work items, role agents, person agents and device agents.

According to one particular embodiment, there is provided a system forcreating a contextual environment for a user capable of filling variousroles, comprising a module for generating a graphical user interface topresent different screens or menus to a user based on the user's role; amodule for displaying and managing roles associated with the user, wherethe roles are linked to the user by defined policies in accordance withcriteria stored in a first memory; a module for displaying and managingmultiple input and output devices associated with the user, where theinput and output devices are linked to the user by defined policies inaccordance with criteria stored in a second memory; a module forestablishing connections to the input and output devices in accordancewith the defined policies; a selection entity for accepting user inputindicative of a particular role; and a module for selecting theappropriate screen for presentation to the user based on the user'scurrent role, and wherein the active input and output devices apparentto the user are those associated with the current role as determined bythe defined policies.

It will be understood in this context that input and output “devices”include any entity capable of interacting with a human user, and inparticular a physical device such as smartphones and the like, but theycan also be web pages, such as Facebook or LinkedIn pages, or a Twitterfeed, for example as web pages that deliver applications like Facebookor LinkedIn is considered a device in much the same way as a smartphoneor other physical communications device. The invention allows the userto manage multiple such devices in an orderly manner, recognizing thatnot all such devices will be relevant to any particular role.

The first and second memory can of course be part of the same largermemory, or can be separate memory elements.

The modules are typically be implemented in software running on asuitable processor, although they can be implemented in hardwareperforming the same function.

A person's role can be both business and personal related. Embodimentsof the present invention allow a person to set up and manage all theserelationships and roles. This can be combined with standard devices likePCs, tablets and cell/smart phones. The application is an aggregator of“devices” based on role for a particular person.

In a preferred embodiment, the invention can be implemented as anapplication for running on a PC, tablet, smartphone or other suitableplatform. Typically at start-up, the application opens all theapplications and devices associated with the user, identifies thecurrent role, and presents the appropriate user screen. Thus, if theuser is currently filling a personal role, the Facebook web pageassociated with the personal role may be made available on the screen,either as an icon or an open page, and incoming calls directed to theuser's personal telephone number will be directed to the user'ssmartphone. An incoming message on a LinkedIn page, which might normallybe associated with the person's business role, might give an indicationvia the business icon, but will not normally be available unless theuser switched roles by clicking on the business icon. Likewise, a calldirected to the user's business number will not be directed to theuser's smartphone unless the user switched roles. A default policy mightbe to route it to a voicemail, or an alternative destination such as asecretary. The presence of the incoming call to the person's businessrole can however trigger an indication on the business icon, in whichcase the user might elect to switch roles. The incoming call might thenbe forwarded to the user's smartphone.

The user can also set up a policy to ensure, for example, that a callfrom a particular number automatically trigger a switch in roles. Forexample, a call from a family member might override other considerationsand switch the context into family mode.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described in more detail, by way of exampleonly, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows an architecture with three levels;

FIG. 2 illustrates the concept of policy chains;

FIG. 3 shows an architecture with three levels further grouped intomissions;

FIG. 4 shows a collaboration tool being added to the mission;

FIG. 5 shows the interaction between communications, role agents, personagents, device agents policy chains, policies and work items within amission and a terminating agent for ephemeral systems;

FIG. 6 shows a particular example of a party mission;

FIG. 7 shows an example of a game;

FIG. 8 shows the organization of elements involved in an example partymission;

FIG. 9 illustrates the perspective of a particular application inaccordance with the invention;

FIGS. 10 to 20 are sample user interfaces;

FIG. 21 shows an embodiment in a cloud environment;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

Although the invention will be described in connection with certainpreferred embodiments, it will be understood that the invention is notlimited to those particular embodiments. On the contrary, the inventionis intended to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalentarrangements as may be included within the spirit and scope of theinvention as defined by the appended claims.

FIG. 1 shows an architecture for implementing, managing and running acommunication or workflow management system with three levels, roleagents 100 a, 100 b, 100 n, person agents 101 a, 101 b, 101 n and deviceagents 102 a, 102 b, 102 n, with a many to many relationship betweeneach 103, 104. A person agent 101 and device agent 102 are softwareentities (agents) representing real world entities, while role agents100 are software entities (agents) representing a real word concept. Forexample, in the case of a help desk, you can have a helper role(represented by a role agent 100) that is filled by different people(represented by different person agents 101) which use different devices(represented by device agents 102) to manage communications.

Policy chains 200, 201 link the levels together with different policies202 a, 202 b, 202 c, 202 d as shown in FIG. 2. Policy chains 200, 201can have one or more policies 202. Policies 203 a, 203 b, 203 c can alsoreside within the role agent 100, person agent 101 and device agent 102.The user 204 (represented by person agent 101) uses devices 205(represented by device agent 102) to interact with the system. Deviceagents 102 use a communication link 206 to talk to devices 205. Thislink is for example, a protocol, or an API that the device agent 102uses to communicate with the device 205. This means that the rest of thesystem does not need to know about specific device 205 communicationlanguages. An example of a policy chain 200 using the help desk exampleis when you have a helper role agent linked to a day of week policylinked to a time of day policy linked to a group policy, which thenpicks a person agent to handle a communication. An example of a policylocated within an agent is a screening policy, which can stop one userfrom communicating with another user. In this case a list of allblack-listed people would reside in the person agent.

Referring to FIG. 3, an organization or group 300 which has role agents100 a, 100 n, 100 aa, 100 nn, policy chains 200 a, 200 n, 200 aa, 200 nnbetween role agents 100 and person agents 101, person agents 101 a, 101n, 101 aa, 101 nn and policy chains 2011, 201 n, 201 aa, 201 nn betweenperson agents 101, and device agents 102 a, 102 n, 102 aa, 102 nn, canfurther have created and defined missions 301 a, 301 b which group roleagents 100 and their subsequent connections. Incoming communications 306contain data 307 routed to the organization or group 300 are put in acommunication queue 305 and can follow a policy chain 302 based on thedata 307 and be routed to the correct mission 301 a, 301 b, or both.Data 307 in the incoming communications 306 could include for example:

-   -   To address    -   From address    -   From data    -   Time    -   Day    -   Subject    -   Title    -   Type of communication

Missions 301 can also add communications 304 to the communication queue305, thus allowing communications to be routed between missions 301 orback into missions 301. Note that a person agent 101 could reside in oneor more missions 301.

One or more collaboration tools can be associated to a mission 301.Referring to FIG. 4, a collaboration tool 401 can be added 402 to themission 301, which will cause new collaboration device agents 404 a, 404n, 404 aa, 404 nn, based on the collaboration tool 401 to be added 405a, 405 n, 405 aa, 405 nn to the person agent 101 a, 101 n, 101 aa, 101nn. This new collaboration device agent 404 will communicate 406 withthe collaboration tool 401 through for example API 407. Policies canalso be created and defined between the person agent 101 and the newcollaboration device agent 404, for example to route specificcommunication types to the tool. In turn, the mission 301 can cause theperson agents 101 and groups created and defined by group policy 400 a,400 b that are created and defined in the mission 301 to automaticallybe created and defined 403 in the collaboration tool 401 through forexample a published well-known API 407 provided by the collaborationtool 401. This can also include the creation of distribution lists basedon the role agent/group (100/400), or changes to any other applicationwithin the collaboration tool 401 relevant to the mission 301. If themission 301 is given context with keywords, then appropriate feeds, websites, ads, etc. can also be added to the collaboration tool 401, or toany user interface a user 204 within the mission 301 uses.

Missions 301 can be created around existing role agents 100, or roleagents 100 can be created within the context of a mission 301.

Examples of collaboration tools are: Facebook, LinkedIn, Yammer,Telligent, Salesforce.com Chatter, Gmail, Outlook, Skype, Windows LiveMessenger.

Referring to FIG. 5, a communication 306 on the communication queue 305comes to mission 301 through a policy chain 302 and gets put on amission communication queue 505, and is routed 500 by a policy chain 506using communication data 307 to the appropriate role agent 510 or 511.It follows a policy chain 200 a or 200 b to select the person agent 101a or 101 b or 101 n, and a policy chain 201 a or 201 b or 201 c to getthe device agent 102 a or 102 b or 102 c. The device agent 102 a or 102b or 102 c communicates 520 with devices 205. Communications 306 cancome from external sources, or they can come from a device 205associated with a user 204 represented by a person agent 101 in aparticular role 100. This information may also be used to route thecommunication 306 through various policy chains 302, 506, 200, 201.

The user 204, using for example device agent 102 a can create a newcommunication type called a work item 501, and add information to it.Work items 501 can contain many things, for example documents, or aseries of communications of different types, related to the work item501. The mission 301 has defined different “types” of work items 501that the user 204 can choose from. Templates exist for the work items501 that the user 204 will use to store any data. Once they are done,they can store it in a work item database 503. When criteria 518 are meta kick 516 causes 517 the work item 501 to be put on the communicationqueue 305, which through a policy chain 302 can be re-introduced to themission 301 and put on the mission communication queue 505. When thishappens, the work item 501 is routed to the appropriate role agent510/511 via the policy chain 506. It could also go to another mission301.

Part of the criteria 518 is a state that needs to be met(pre-programmed, or filled in by a user 204) for it to be ready to passon to another role agent 100. As a user 204 adds to the work item 501,it is stored in a database 503 until the criteria 518 is met, or canautomatically be passed on if it is. A timer (either set by the user 204or the system) can be one of the criteria 518. A user interface willallow for the creation, saving and destruction of work items 501 andwork flows 500 within the mission 301, or of the mission 301 itself.Criteria 518 can also be used to navigate through policy chains 302, 506200, 201 as it is data in the work item 501.

Policy chains 302 and 506 then become workflows and create a workflowmanagement system.

A user interface will allow for the fast creation and destruction ofmissions 301, and adding/deleting of services, tools, keywords, etc. inthe mission 301.

An example where this can be used is in a help desk. A set of helperrole agents 100 will be created within the mission 301 of a help desk.If an email, chat or voice call comes in to the help desk mission 301,it is first routed to a helper role agent (say role agent n 511)dependent on the type of help needed (determined by a policy chain 506that looks at the data 307 in the incoming mission communication 306 androutes it accordingly). This helper role agent 511 can have a policychain 200 b that contains a group policy that groups person agent b 101b and person agent n 101 n. Once a person agent 101 b or 101 n is chosento handle the incoming mission communication 306, and the incomingmission communication 306 is directed via the device agent b 102 b tothe user 204, they can choose to turn it into a work item 501,pre-defined by the help desk mission 301. Once this is done, they canadd entries to the work item 501 in the form of text, documents, etc. Ifthe work item 501 needs more things to be completed (criteria 518), thenit is stored in a database 503 until they are. The work item 501 can bere-introduced to the mission 301 based on pre-defined criteria 518. Itcan go back to the original helper role agent 511, and either be routedto the same person agent b 101 b, or if that is not necessary, then to anew person agent n 101 n assuming the helper role agent 511 to handle itfurther. Once all the criteria 518 have been met, then the mission 301can route the work item 501 through a policy chain 506 to a supervisorrole agent (say role agent a 510) (for example a problem has beensolved, but it needs the okay from a supervisor before it can beclosed). The supervisor role agent 510 it is routed to might bedifferent based on data in the work item 501 (this will use a policychain 506 using data from the work item 501 to route it to the rightone).

Another concept is that of temporary or ephemeral missions 301 thatreceives incoming mission communications 306, but disappears after aperiod of time, dependent on for example a date or a person manuallydeleting it. Since it is a data driven system, a general template of themission 301 developed for a particular situation with pre-defined roleagents 100, device agents 102, policy chains 302, 506, 200, 201,policies 202 and 203 and work items 501 is set up. An instance of themission 301 is created and the data for the people agents 102 andpolicies 203 is filled in and the correct connections made. Aterminating agent 550 is responsible for destroying the instance of themission 301 once the termination criteria 551 are met. Once thetermination criteria 551 are met, a termination event 552 is sent to theterminating agent 550. The termination criteria 551 could be for examplea time, or date, or a request from a user, or a combination of allfactors.

An example of this will be an application for setting up a party. FIG. 6illustrates this. The party mission 600 will last from the initial startof the setup of the party, and last until its end date 606. Localcompanies can provide different services to the mission 600 (for examplediscounts on food or beverages, or cab rides), and they can fill serviceprovider role agents 603.

Role agents can include: organizer role agent 601, participant roleagent 602, venue provider role agent 611, food provider role agent 612,cab provider role agent 613. The user 661 can use pre-setup web pages672 using the web page device agent 621 for initially creating the partyand filling in the work items 501 with data.

Party specific work items 605, 607, 609, 631 are stored in the databaseof work items 503. A policy chain 604 between and organizer role agent601 and a participant role agent 602 can involve an invitation work item605 (which can include participants, a picture, some text, etc.), or astatus update work item 607 for updating the status of the party toparticipants. Some examples of policy chains 608 between the organizerrole agent 601 and the service providers 611 can involve a booking workitem 609 for securing a venue for the party. A gmail device agent 617may be used to communicate to the venue provider. Another example of thepolicy chains 608 between the organizer role agent 601 and the serviceproviders 611 will be to a food provider role agent 612, which can befilled by a group of food providers represented by a food provider grouppolicy 632. The work item 609 is be passed to both the food providercompany A agent 633 and the food provider company A agent 634, which canhave different modes of communication represented by the web page deviceagent 635 and the gmail device agent 636.

One or more person agents 610 (representing users 661) can fill theorganizer role agent 601 and one or more companies 620, 633, 634 canfill the venue provider role agents 611, 612, 613.

A user 661 represented by person agent 610 and filling the organizerrole agent 601 can use Facebook for adding participants through a webpage device agent 621. They can select people from their friends list tosend invitations to. Gmail (or any email service), or Twitter can alsobe used. As people 660 are added they get person agents created anddefined (618, 619) and put into to the participant group policy 615which will have a broadcast hunt type. The participant group policy 615is connected to the participant role agent 602. Once the user 661 ishappy with the invitation work item 605, it is passed to the participantrole agent 602 as part of policy chain 604, which goes to theparticipant group 615 and sends out the invitation using the correctdevice via the Facebook device agent 614, or twitter device agent 616(which is determined by the method used to select the person) for eachuser 660 represented by person agents 618, 619 invited. Attached to theinvitation work item 605 can be a smartphone app 671 which communicateswith the smartphone app device agent 642 which the user 660 can downloadto their smartphone (or any other wireless or wired device such as atablet or personal computer) and use during the party. The app 671 canalso be for example a web service handled via web pages or it can residein Facebook. A work item type policy 640 can distinguish between whatdevice to send an invitation work item 605 and another type of work itemto.

As users 660 accept or decline the invite, the invitation work item 605is updated accordingly and the person agents 618, 619 attach themselvesto either the coming group policy 650 or the not coming group policy651. A participant status policy 660 is used to routecommunications/work items 306, 501 to the correct one. Conversely, twonew role agents can be created to handle coming and not coming.

The smartphone app 671 can gather data and send it to the smartphone appdevice agent 642 where it can be stored or passed on to the person agentor role agent. If location is known for some of the participants(derived by their smartphone and sent via the smartphone app 671 to thesmartphone app device agent 642 and stored as data in the person 618),then depending on a time of day policy, offers of cab rides can be sentfrom a cab provider role agent 613 to one or more participants viapolicy chain 630 based on their current location (still at the party).The work item type policy 640 will send this work item 631 to the smartphone app device agent 642 which will notify the user 660 via thesmartphone app 671.

Either location or a prompt on the smart phone app 671 that lets thesmartphone app agent 642 know that the user 660 has arrived. As theperson agent 618 receives the indication that the user 660 has arrivedat the party, it can attach itself to the arrived group policy 652.Conversely, a new role agent can be created to handle arrived people.

During the party, updates are sent by the user 661 using a status updatework item 607 and sent using policy chain 604 to either people notarrived at the party, or any of the other groups formed. Data, like forexample a picture taken of the party, can be attached to the work item607 and sent out.

At the party, participants can be pushed information about a personclose to them (possibly determined by Bluetooth), and using informationabout the person (possibly obtained via Facebook), then common interestscan be pushed to the smartphone app 673. FIG. 7 shows an example ofthis. The smartphone app 703, 731 on smartphone 710, 711 is associatedto a smartphone app device agent 702, 708 which is associated with theperson agenta and person agent b 701, 707 (representing user A 721 andUser B 722) which through an arrived group policy 652 is associated tothe participant role agent 602. The smartphone app 730, 731 wasdownloaded 724 to the smartphone 710, 711 on acceptance of an invitation605 to the party (which will have been handled by a policy chain 604).Smartphones 710,711 containing smartphone app 730, 731 can communicateusing for example Bluetooth 716. When two smartphones 710, 711 arewithin the right distance, the smartphone app 730 which is associatedwith user A 721, can receive over Bluetooth the address of user B 722.Either by a prompt from the User A 721, or in the background, smartphoneapp 730 can ask for information 712 on user B 722. This gets sent bysmartphone app device agent 702, through person agent 701 to personalrole agent a 700. This gets relayed 713 to personal role agent b 706.When user B 722 accepted the party invitation 605, then a personal roleagent b 706, and a person agent 707 were set up for them, and profiledata 719 was stored, using information 715 from (for example) Facebookagent 709, which is a device that was connected to the person agent 707when they accepted the invitation. Once person agent 701 receives thisinformation, it can match common interests or people (using its ownstored profile data 720) and send it to smartphone app 730 viasmartphone app device agent 702. When it receives this information, itcan prompt user A 721 with the appropriate information to start aconversation with user B 722.

Other game-like applications can be automatically downloaded to anydevice that a participant at the party has. A role-based game (like amurder mystery) can be set up ahead of time, with role agents knowingtheir persona, and people being assigned to them as they walk in, and asmartphone app can give them their instructions. Incentives to come tothe party can be broadcast with the invitation, or later, for examplefree drinks to the first 20 to accept and show up.

Implementation of the games/work items/communications flowing throughthe system will follow the same rules as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,836,893.They are invoked the same as features are described at each of the threelevels.

This idea can be expanded to cover weddings, conferences, or any socialor business event. Once it is over, the mission 600 can be destroyed orsaved for future reference.

A web page (which is a template automatically filled in by the mission301 data) can be created that reflects the mission 301, including allthe role agents 100, person agents 101, policies 202, 203, device 205 s,work items 501, work flows 500 and statuses, and can be a place for data(for example pictures) to be downloaded and shared. This can be providedas a cloud service, or an application.

FIG. 8 describes the party example in more detail, where each party 805is a mission 600. In this example, the primary organizer 808, secondaryorganizers 806, guests 807 and service providers 811 are users 204. Aperson agent 101 is created for each, which is associated to a(personal) role agent 100. Once all the data is input for the party 805,the mission 600 is created based on the embodiment described in U.S.Pat. No. 6,836,893. Before a primary organizer 808 can create a party805 (which is a mission 600) they need to have an organizer account 802.They can create the organizer account 802 for example from a web page,or a smartphone app 730. Different things are stored with the account asdata 803 for example:

-   -   Invitation templates created by the user    -   Invitee lists with ranks for each entry (good, bad) that can be        updated after a party    -   A party, so it can be repeated easily. Can have an automatic        countdown (like a campaign)

Organizer accounts 802 can be customized (stored as data 803) with forexample:

-   -   Selection of radio stations to listen to while creating the        party    -   Types of offers the user wants to see    -   Security options (what can and can't be seen and by who)    -   Types of replies they want to get    -   If they want automatic follow-ups to be done

Before a service provider 811 can offer services 810 to a party 805 theyneed to have a service provider account 812. They can create the serviceprovider account 812 from for example a web page, Facebook, or asmartphone app. The service provider 811 can tailor their account(stored in data 809) to for example:

-   -   Provide service for particular types of parties, themes, number        of people attending etc.    -   A particular geographical region 801

The data 809 is used at the person level 101 which in this caserepresents a company. This data 809 can be used for routing of incomingmission communications 306.

If there is more than one organizer for a party 805, the primaryorganizer 808 creates a party 805, and then adds secondary organizers806 to the party 805. The new secondary organizers 806 are sent an emailinforming them of their role. Attached to the email are a link to theweb site 800 and the link for downloading the smartphone app 641. Thecontact address 815 for the party 805 is the primary organizer's 806email name (minus the @ and .com) & a unique party identifier &@website.com. The unique identifier starts at 1, and as the primaryorganizer 808 becomes the primary on other parties, it is incrementedby 1. The contact address 815 is stored as part of the party data 804.All information about the secondary organizers 806 is stored within theparty data 804. The primary organizer 808 can reuse the account 802 fordifferent parties 805. Primary organizers 808 and secondary organizers806 can add different modes of communication on top of their emailaddress, for example Skype, Facebook, another email address, etc. (thesebecome device agents 102) and can set each one as the primary method fordifferent types of communication (which become part of the policy chain201). They can also choose not to get certain types of communications(e.g. invitation replies).

The primary organizer 808 can set permissions (these will be restrictionpolicies 203 at the person agent 101 level) on what other secondaryorganizers 806 can modify or do. For example, a secondary organizer 806might be relegated to managing games, and another to managing bids, butneither one can update the invite list. Permissions include for example:

-   -   Add a guest    -   Delete a guest    -   Manage games    -   Send updates to various groups    -   Add to, check off and delete items from the to-do list

The organizer(s) 808, 806 might choose to have the party 805 at multiplelocations. If this is the case, then once the timetable (a work item501) is established (stored as party data 804), reminders (incomingmission communications 306) can optionally be sent to organizers 808,806 and arrived guests 652 when it is time to move on. Guests 807 andorganizers 808, 806 can confirm this using the smartphone app 641, 642,so party goers can be kept track of

All modifications to the party by any organizer 808, 806 are kept in alog.

The organizer(s) 808, 806 have access to a to-do list 830 stored inparty data 804 and can add items to the list, and check off completeditems.

Creating an invitation list 816 is done by the organizer(s) 808, 806.Contact information is imported from for example (either individually oras groups):

-   -   Google contacts    -   Facebook friends    -   LinkedIn connections    -   Outlook Contacts    -   Hotmail contacts    -   Skype contacts

As the guests 807 are imported into the party 805, their mode ofcommunication is stored (which creates device agents 102), as well asany information about them that is possible to retrieve (stored in theperson agent 101).

The invitation comes from the contact address 815, and is what is usedto respond to the invite.

The invitation list 816 is stored against the party 805 in the partydata 804 and in the organizer's account data 803, for possible reuse.

The invited group is given a unique participant contact address 817.

If a contact comes from an application that includes an email address,for example Facebook, then both Facebook and email are used to contactthat guest 807 (both device agents 102 are added).

An example of a incoming mission communication 306 or work item 501 thatcan be sent to guests 807 is a polling invite. There is a list of itemsthat the user can select to poll for, for example:

-   -   Dates    -   Themes    -   Food (including allergies, preferences e.g. vegetarian)

This step can be skipped. The guests 807 receive this polling invite viathe communication type they were imported with. The participant contactaddress 817 is used to send the invitation, and the “From” address isthe contact address 815. The organizer 806, 808 chooses the items toadd, which are imbedded in the polling invite. The reply comes back tothe contact address 817 and follows a policy chain 506 to get to theorganizers 806,808, and each organizer 806,808 receives the responseusing the device agent 102 of their choice. As well, the web service 800keeps track of the answers and the web page for the party 805 usingparty data 804 invitation lists and answers 817, displays the answersand it also provides a suggestion as to which choice is the best one.

Once the invitation list 816 is done (a participant group policy 615 iscreated), the organizers 806,808 can set up an invitation 818 (which isa work item 501). Different styles of invitation (stored in the webservice data 814) are given, depending on the theme, or the organizers806,808 can create their own using a basic template that they fill inwith custom text and pictures. This new invite 818 is saved in the partydata 804. It is sent to the guests 807 via the participant contactaddress 817 and received via the communication type they were importedwith. The “from” address is the contact address 817. Imbedded in theinvitation 818 are three choices for the guest to select: Coming, NotComing, Maybe. The invitation 818 might also have a “plus one”, wherethe guest 807 can enter a communication address, so that person can beinvited as well. The guest 807 might also want to include an alternatecommunication address for themselves. The invitation includes a linkthat provides the ability to download the smartphone app 642. This appcan also be used by the guest 807 in the future to set up their ownparty. Preferences can be set up so that a calendar check can be doneautomatically on future invites.

If the smartphone app 642 is downloaded, part of the functionalityprovided by it is automatic Google map directions from where they are tothe party location, just by pressing a button.

Another item that can be imbedded in the invitation 818 is a link to apotluck list 819. The web service 800 provides a page to display this.The guest is asked to check off an item they will be bringing. They havethe ability to add detail. Their name is automatically added. All guests807 can see this web page.

The invitation 818 can also include offers from service providers 811 ondeals related to the party (e.g. costumes, cab rides, etc.). A web linkwill be included that gets the guest 807 to the appropriate site or theweb service 800 can manage them if there is a threshold to be reachedbefore the offer is valid.

The invitation 818 can also include a link to a gift registry.

The reply comes back to the contact address 817 and follows a policychain 506 to get to the organizers 806,808, and each organizer 806,808receives the response using the device agent 102 of their choice. Aswell, the web service 800 uses the answers 816 that are stored in theparty data 804 and the web page for the party displays them.

Three new group policies are created coming group policy 650, not cominggroup policy 651 and maybe group policy. These groups will be visible tothe organizers 806, 808 on a web page.

The primary organizer 808 can choose whether or not they want automaticfollow-ups done. This will entail a programmable reminder being sent(prompted by a kick 516 for a work item 501), either automatically, orafter the primary organizer 808 okays it. The reminder will go tonon-responders and optionally the coming group.

The primary organizer 808 can delete a party 805, and if it hasn't takenplace yet, but invites 818 have been sent, then a new message is sentinforming the guests of the cancellation. If a guest 807 is deleted fromthe party 805, then they are sent a message informing them that theparty 805 (for them) has been cancelled.

When the party 805 is created the primary organizer 808 is presentedwith a list of service providers 811 that want to bid on the event. Fora service provider 811 to participate, they need to provide whatservices they want to offer. The primary organizer 808 picks the typesof services they want, and an email is sent out to all the registeredproviders. Responses are sent from the contact address 815, and allreplies are routed via a policy chain 506 to the organizers 808, 806.These are also put into a web page provided by the web service 800 foreasily choosing which ones to accept. The service providers 811 can alsoaccess a web page to see what parties 805 are available to bid on.Service providers 811 can automate the sending of bids based on criterialike location, date, size, payment method, which they can pre-programinto the system and store in the service provider account data 809, andupdate whenever they need to.

Party organizers 808, 806 post their party 805 (including location andservices they need) and service providers 811 are notified (they canmonitor different “keywords”) if they have a match, and then they canpost bids for particular party services.

The smartphone app 641,642 can be integrated with, for exampleFoursquare, so that if anyone with the smartphone app 641,642 walks intoa store owned by a service provider 811, the smartphone app 641,642tells you party 805 deals.

As guests 807 arrive at the party, and they have the smartphone app 642,then they can either use the smartphone app 642 to update their status,or the smartphone app 642 can determine their location and prompt themto say they have arrived, or do it automatically. A new arrived grouppolicy 652 is created. The web service 800 party web page is alsoupdated to reflect this group, and the organizers 808, 806 can use itfor playing games or sending out communications. When a guest 807 leavesthe party, they are removed from the arrived group policy 652, and theycan use the smartphone app 642 to update their status and rank the party(which will be stored in the party data 804 and in the web service 800statistics 813), or the smartphone app 642 can determine their locationand prompt them to say they have left, or do it automatically.

At any time before during or after the party, a message can be sent tothe various different groups created (615, 650, 651, 652). Theorganizers 806, 808 or guest 807 just chooses which group or groups(615, 650, 651, 652), creates their incoming mission communications 306(possibly with attachments), and it is sent to the appropriate people(618, 619) using the appropriate device agent 102. Pre-canned messagesare available to for example:

-   -   Update guests on who is coming    -   Remind maybes and not-yet-answered invitees    -   Update guests on the potluck list    -   Update guests on who has arrived at the party    -   Send video or audio messages to all the people that haven't        arrived

Games available from the web service 800 (stored in the web service data814) are chosen by the organizers 806, 808 and are delivered from theweb service using the smartphone app 641, 642. The organizers 806, 808may have to control the game from a special web page. Some possiblegames are:

-   -   Ice Breaker: uses Bluetooth and the smartphone. Can use for        example Facebook to determine common interests then pushes them        to the smartphone app 642, or sends queries to guests 807 via        the smartphone app 642 to, for example: find the person who . .        .    -   Murder Mystery: assigns role agents 100 as users 204 come in the        door (location based), pushes information, clues etc. to the        smartphone app 642. The organizers 806, 808 can use a web page        provided by the web service 800 to manage game.

Before, during and after the party 805, service providers 811 can sendoffers targeted at different groups (organizers 808, 806, or participantgroups 615, 650, 651, 652). These can be location-based or time-based.

The web service 800 can provide a geographically-based 801 map 820 ofall parties 805 taking place in real-time. Organizers 808, 806 have theoption of whether or not they want their party displayed. This map 820can also be seen by service providers 811 so that they can see whereparties 805 are taking place. Statistics 813 can be shown on the map.The parties 805 can be ranked and show different colours depending ontheir rank, or the number of people at them, etc.

Another part of the embodiment is a user interface that lets a user 204manage their various roles and devices within the missions they are apart of FIG. 9 points out the perspective of the application 900 that isbeing described for user 204. A person agent 101 can be connected tomany role agents (100 a, 100 n) through different policy chains 200 a,200 n. They can also be connected to many device agents 102 a, 102 nthrough policy chains 201 a, 201 n.

Being able to manage all the work flows and communications that happenfor a particular role can become cumbersome for a user 204. Anapplication that lets them easily switch context between roles and haveall devices associated to that role be visible is now described.

FIGS. 10-20 illustrate a sample user interface (UI), and the conceptsshown can be implemented in various different ways, with buttons perrole agent, or tabs per role agent, etc. The version shown is for a PCor tablet, but a different smaller version using the same concepts, justa different look will be used for a smartphone. These features can beimplemented using appropriate software modules.

FIG. 10 is a sample user interface for the application 900 which can belocal or cloud-based and implemented as a web-page, thin-client or afull desktop or smartphone app. It is depicting an application 900running after the data for a mission 301 has been entered, andconsolidating the various roles 1003 (represented by role agents 100)and devices 205 (represented by device agents 102) for user 204(represented by person agent 101) entered, and running them in realtime. It is taken from a particular user 204 represented by the personagent 101 perspective; it is divided into two groups, work and play1002, and shows different roles 1003, which can be permanent, or show upbased on logging-in to the role, or by any policy 202 that links therole agent 100 to the person agent 101 that is activated, for exampletime of day. Each role 1003 can have a message waiting indicator 1013which is specific to the particular role 1003. Role context sensitivedrop down menus 1012 change based on role 1003, and constituteaggregations of web-page based or application based devices 205 for aparticular role 1003. When a Role 1003 is chosen, the work area containsa default window 1011 which can be defined, here it shows email and inparticular Outlook as the default web page shown in the work area forthe patents role.

FIGS. 11 and 12 show that roles 1003 can also be logged in to 1100, andthat credentials 1200 may be needed. Once successfully logged in, therole will show up in either the work or play 1002 column.

FIG. 13 shows that the new market research role is available andselected 1300, and that the role context sensitive drop down menus havechanged for the market research role 1301. For example, the social dropdown shows LinkedIn and Yammer as social sites for the market researchrole 1302.

FIG. 14 shows the feeds drop down for the market research role 1400, andwhen chosen the work area is a web page for the small business feed1401.

FIG. 15 shows that the current role can be changed by clicking on it1500, and the default web page put in the work area is email for thephotography role, and Gmail in particular 1501.

In FIG. 16, the role is changed to family 1600 (by selecting it), underthe social dropdown Facebook is selected 1601 and the work area changesto the web page for Facebook 1602. A new drop down icon can appear 1603(in this example photos) associated to the family role.

FIG. 17 depicts a role button 1003 which can appear time-based, forexample a call center agent shift starts 1700. The new role button willappear, and there might be a log in sequence needed. The work areacontains an agent screen 1701.

In the icons, the user 204 is represented by the Me icon 1801, and FIG.18 shows that presence 1800 can be set on behalf of the user 204,independent of the role 1003 they are in, and this can be propagated tovarious different device agents 102 like Facebook or Skypeautomatically, without the user 204 having to go to each oneindividually and do it. Presence can be set for a particular role, asubset of roles, or all roles. Anything that the person agent 101 can doon behalf of the user 204 independent of the role 100 they are in can beput in here.

FIG. 19 shows that another thing that the user 204 can do is configureeach role 1003, in this example, the market research role 1900. Thepolicy chaining 200, and policies 203 between the role 100 and theperson 101 (and between the person 101 and the devices 102—not shown)can be set up and edited by the user 204.

FIG. 20 shows that the created and defined roles 1003 actually becomeline appearances (in telephony terms) 2000 and can flash or indicate onhold (for calls), and communications (calls, emails, chats, etc.) can bedirected to the role agents 100 for this user 204. It also gives theuser 204 the ability to accept or reject the communication 2001, and ifaccepted, actually choose the device to send it to 2002 (which will bedetermined by the role agent 100 and the associated device agents 102).When making outbound communications, a directory of roles 1003 givesindications of how the role 1003 can be contacted at this moment. Theuser 204 selects the method and the system is what selects how tocall/email/chat/etc. with them, and the outcome is determined by theuser 204 and the devices 205 they have available to them in their role1003. This may sometimes require a translation to be done (for examplefrom text to speech if an email is sent and a smartphone in a car is theonly device available at the time and a policy 202 based on speed (whichis data stored in person agent 101) is followed to get to the device205).

FIG. 21 shows the application 900 and corresponding data 2101 can residestand-alone on a desktop, or on a server in the cloud, serviced eitherby a web page, or a thin client/server combination or by a desktop orsmartphone application. The application 900 subscribes to andautomatically logs-in to (2102) communication engines 2105 whose contentcan be displayed using a web page as a device. It also uses and manages(2103) devices and services 2104 which are also attached to the cloud2106.

While particular embodiments and applications of the present inventionhave been illustrated and described, it is to be understood that theinvention is not limited to the precise construction and compositionsdisclosed herein and that various modifications, changes, and variationsmay be apparent from the foregoing descriptions without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A system for implementing, managing orrunning a contextual environment in a communication or workflowmanagement system, said system comprising: a first module in executionupon a computer server for combining a plurality of role agents andtheir associated person agents and device agents into at least onemission, wherein the plurality of role agents represent a plurality ofroles associated with the mission; the person agents represent usersassociated with the mission; the device agents represent devicesassociated with the users; role agents are linked to said person agentsis made in dependence of a first policy chain associated with the atleast one mission; and said person agents are linked to said deviceagents is made in dependence of a second policy chain associated withthe at least one mission; wherein the users are users of a softwareapplication installed upon the devices associated with the users whichcommunicate with the system via a network; and another module forestablishing a mission, wherein the mission includes pre-defined roleagents representing roles, person agents representing users, deviceagents representing devices, policies, policy chains and work items,instantiated with appropriate connections and filled in with data; andthe other module receives incoming communications and includes atermination event module for creating a termination event that is eithera user invoked termination event or stored termination criteria for aselected mission, and a mission termination module for terminating saidselected mission in response to the occurrence of said terminationevent.
 2. The system according to claim 1, wherein a device associatedwith a device agent comprises a device supporting downloading,installation and execution of the software application.
 3. The systemaccording to claim 1, further comprising a second module in executionupon the computer server for linking a selected communication betweenthe user and another user associated via the system to at least onemission with a policy chain, wherein the at least one mission has theuser associated with either the user's current role or a different rolealso currently associated to the user; and the second moduleautomatically determines at least one of how to and whether to providethe selected communication to the user in dependence upon the missionand the policy chain.
 4. The system according to claim 1, wherein auser's role is associated with a mission which includes at least onework item of a plurality of items, wherein the at least one work item ofthe plurality of items is managed as a communication by the system. 5.The system according to claim 1, further comprising a mission linkingmodule for linking selected communications to at least one mission of aplurality of missions with a policy chain, wherein the missionassociates users to user roles and devices with the user.
 6. The systemaccording to claim 1, further comprising a role agent linking module forlinking selected communications to at least one of said role agents in amission with a policy chain.
 7. The system according to claim 1, whereinthe user's role is associated with at least one of a social event, asporting event, a business event, a community event, and anentertainment event.
 8. The system according to claim 1, wherein theuser's role is automatically established by the system in dependenceupon determining that a mission exists wherein the current location ofthe user and the current time are within predetermined limits defined bythe mission, wherein the user's current location is established eithercontinuously, periodically or upon the user logging into an applicationthat synchronizes to the system.
 9. The system according to claim 1,wherein the system establishes a person agent associated with a user anda device agent associated with an electronic device of the user independence upon the user performing an action with respect to at leastone of a web page, a web site, a software application, and a socialmedia profile; and the at least one of the web page, the web site, andthe social media profile define a mission to which the person agent andtheir associated device agent will be linked via a role agent.
 10. Thesystem according to claim 9, wherein the role agent and a roleassociated with the role agent are automatically established independence upon the at least one of the web page, the web site, thesoftware application, and the social media profile.
 11. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the system establishes a person agentassociated with a user and a device agent associated with an electronicdevice of the user in dependence upon the user performing an action withrespect to at least one of a web page, a web site, and a social mediaprofile; and the system communicates data to the user in response to theuser performing the action, wherein the data relates to a softwareapplication for the user to install to their electronic device.
 12. Thesystem according to claim 11, wherein the software application providesupon the user's electronic device instances of at least one of: a modulefor generating a graphical user interface to present different screensor menus to a user based on the user's role; a selection entity foraccepting user input indicative of a particular role; and a module forselecting an appropriate screen for presentation to the user based onthe user's current role, and wherein the active screens apparent to theuser are those associated with the current role.
 13. The systemaccording to claim 1, further comprising; a data module for providingdata via a network to a software application in execution upon thedevice associated with the device agent associated with the person agentassociated with the user, wherein the data relates to which at least oneof a screen and a menu to display to the user based upon the roleassigned to the user within the mission.
 14. The system according toclaim 1, wherein at least one of: a work item sent to a user through adevice agent contains a link to a downloadable application allowing theuser to interface with the system through the application oncedownloaded and the downloaded application becomes a device agent; andthe at least one mission at least one of provides a person agent a game,manages a game being played by a group of person agents associated withthe at least one mission, and runs a game to be played by a group ofperson agents associated with the at least one mission.
 15. The systemaccording to claim 1, further comprising; a data storage module forstoring data within a database relating to the at least one mission, thedata relating to at least one of: an association of a plurality ofassociations, each association relating at least one role agent of aplurality of said role agents and their associated person agents anddevice agents; a first link of a plurality of first links, each firstlink relating to a policy chain, a role agent, and a first associatedperson agent, and a second link of a plurality of second links, eachsecond link relating to the policy chain, a second associated personagent, and a device agent.
 16. The system according to claim 1, furthercomprising; a trigger storage module for storing within a database atleast one trigger of a plurality of triggers, each trigger relating tothe mission of the plurality of missions, the policy chain, and at leastone of a role agent and a person agent and defining a process to beexecuted by a computer, wherein the process is selected from the groupcomprising sending an invitation to a predetermined person agent,initiating a game, pushing a notification to a predetermined personagent, posting content from a person agent to a webpage hosted on aremote computer server, establishing communications between role agents,establishing communications to person agents, and managingcommunications via a network to an application installed upon a deviceagent.
 17. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first modulecombines the plurality of role agents and their associated person agentsand device agents into the at least one mission in dependence upon atemplate of a plurality of templates; and the system automaticallyassociates with each role agent of the plurality of role agents a useridentity associated with a user and issues to each user a notification.18. The system according to claim 1, wherein a user may be associated bythe system to at least one of multiple concurrent roles within the atleast one mission and to multiple missions, wherein these are managed bythe system through a single instance of the software application inexecution upon the device associated with the user.
 19. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the software application was installed bythe user either to allow them to become associated with the mission orin response to a request from the system.
 20. The system according toclaim 1, wherein the mission is a discrete temporary activity having alimited duration.